phobias

• What is a phobia?

  A type of mental disorder
• What are the three symptoms of a phobia?

  Persistent fear, irrational belief, avoidance
• What is a persistent fear in phobias?

  Fear of a specific stimulus
• What does an irrational belief about a stimulus involve?

  Believing something dramatic and untrue
• What does avoidance of a stimulus mean in phobias?

  Avoiding the stimulus that brings fear
• How many symptoms must a person display to be diagnosed with a phobia?

  All three symptoms
• What are the three types of symptoms in phobias?

  Behavioural, cognitive, emotional
• What are behavioural symptoms in phobias?

  Symptoms that include physical behaviours
• What are emotional symptoms in phobias?


  Symptoms that include emotions
• What are cognitive symptoms in phobias?

  Symptoms that include mental processes and thoughts
• What is a specific phobia?

  Fear of objects or animals
• What is social phobia?

  Fear of social situations
• What is agoraphobia?

  Fear of entrapments
• What are the two steps in the two-process model of phobias?

  Acquiring a phobia and maintaining it
• How are phobias acquired according to the behaviourist approach?

  Through classical conditioning
• What is a neutral stimulus in the context of phobias?

  The thing that they eventually start to fear
• What is an unconditioned stimulus?

  An unpleasant stimulus that causes fear
• What is a conditioned response in phobias?

  The fear developed from the conditioned stimulus
• How are phobias maintained according to the behaviourist approach?

  Through operant conditioning
• What happens when a person encounters their phobia?

  They learn to avoid the source of fear
• What is negative reinforcement in the context of phobias?

  Removing fear by avoiding the phobia
• What is a strength of the behaviourist approach to phobias?

  Studies support the idea
• What was the aim of the Little Albert case study?

  To see if phobias can be acquired
• What was the neutral stimulus in the Little Albert case study?

  The white rat
• What became the conditioned stimulus in the Little Albert case study?

  The white rat
• What was the conditioned response in the Little Albert case study?

  Fear and crying when presented with the rat
• What did Barlow and Durand aim to investigate in their study?

  Phobia of driving cars
• What did Barlow and Durand find about participants' phobias?

  50% recalled a traumatic event
• What did Barlow and Durand conclude about phobias?

  They are developed through classical conditioning
• How did participants maintain their phobia according to Barlow and Durand?

  By avoiding driving to remove fear
• What limitation did Davey's research reveal about phobias?

  50% could not recall a traumatic event
• What is one potential cause of phobias besides traumatic events?

  Genetic predisposition to fear
• What are the two types of treatments for phobias?

  • Flooding
  • Systematic desensitisation
• What is flooding in the treatment of phobias?

  Bombarding a patient with their phobia
• What is a strength of flooding as a treatment?

  65% had no symptoms after 4 years
• What is a limitation of flooding?

  It can cause great distress to patients
• What is systematic desensitisation?

  Gradual exposure to phobia with relaxation
• What is a fear hierarchy in systematic desensitisation?

  A list of scenarios related to the phobia
• What is the goal of systematic desensitisation?

  To break the association between fear and stimulus
• What did Ost's study find about systematic desensitisation?

  90% improved or recovered after 4 years